Nothing Lasts
by benodite
Summary: He started up the old truck and made it to Mr. Smoothy's in a daze, shaking off the fuzzy feeling behind his eyes. His hair stood on end as he slurped his smoothie down. A second untouched smoothie glared at him from its place in the cup holder. For tumblr user bencest


Ben stared up at the sky before him, the "repair" truck parked off the side of the road. It had been a long and uneventful day to say the least. All he wanted to do was go to Mr. Smoothy's to get his usual and drive home to enjoy it in the comforts of his room. After all the other Ben's (and Gwen) had been returned to their own timelines a lot had happened.

Grandpa Max had been officially reinstated into the Plumbers and he had gotten Ben a place in the ranks for his role in saving the universe and delivering the final blow to Vilgax. He'd finally become a hero and yet...

In times of stillness he'd lay in wait, eyes glued to the sky, looking just over his shoulder; waiting for someone who didn't have a reason to come back for him. He tended to shake those feelings off immediately, but his fingertips reached up to brush along his busted lip, it was different this evening. There was a pressure on his lips that he was unaccustomed up that only magnified the feeling of longing in his chest.

Benjamin Kirby Tennyson had never been a love stricken teen.

His green eyes were drawn to the sound of a young couple laughing together. A tall red haired girl hung off her much shorter boyfriend's shoulders, laughing at some joke he'd made. They acted as if they were the only people in all of Bellwood. Candy apple cheek kisses and soft blushes on their glowing faces. If he let his mind wander, the height difference lessened and the girl's red hair turned into a messily cut brown, green eyes crinkled with mirth-

But he'd never been in love before.

People like the couple before him were what he was protecting daily.

He wondered what his Grandpa Max would think of him making Moon eyes at the mere thought of _him_.

Though he had to right to judge, seeing as his type of women were all extraterrestrial.

Ben drummed his fingers along the steering wheel and huffed a sigh. Three minutes before he could head to Mr. Smoothy's and begin the process of being a normal teenager with normal worries. Like seeing if the Sumo Slammers marathon was tonight or next Friday.

Three minutes came and went like selfless and heroic alternative selves.

He started up the old truck and made it to Mr. Smoothy's in a daze, shaking off the fuzzy feeling behind his eyes. His hair stood on end as he slurped his smoothie down. A second untouched smoothie glared at him from its place in the cup holder. He'd nearly made it back to his house when a beeping from the radio came through. He fumbled for the volume up switch and was greeted by his Grandfather's voice.

"Ben?"

"Yeah, Grandpa?" Ben said around a mouthful of straw, doing his best to not take his eyes off the road.

"There's an unknown threat in the soccer field at your school. I know you just got off duty for the evening but it's close by and I'm-"

"Counting on me. I know, I know. I'll check it out Grandpa." Ben could hear the smile in his Grandfather's next words.

"Then I'll be seeing you, plumber Tennyson."

"Make sure to lock up the Rust Bucket tonight, we don't want another incident with Ricky the Raccoon." Ben turned off the radio and after giving a quick glance around him, made a U-Turn.

Nearby was generous, in the opposite direction he'd been coming from? Now that was more like it.

Looks like Grandpa Max's sense of humor was as off as it had always been.

He parked out front of his high school, a simple laser gun in hand. He held his plumbers badge out to detect for any radiation but the amounts were low enough to not send off a warning beep.

His eyes scanned the field looking for any signs of a threat. Nothing jumped out at him. Shoulders slumping he turned around to make the trip back to the truck and a by now watered down smoothie and a half.

"Aww, and here I heard you missed me." Ben froze in his tracks, skin flushing all over, hands going numb at the sudden burst of euphoria coursing through his veins. There was no way it could be who he thought it was. There wasn't anything special about him to warrant coming back for a simple visit.

Independent of the swirling mix of hope and despair coiling through him, his head moved to look behind him.

A teenage boy almost completely identical to him stood in the middle of field, hands on his hips. The smile on his face reminiscent to the cat that got the cream. Ben felt his eyes well up with tears.

The laser gun dropped from his numb fingers as he began the long walk to the him that didn't constantly doubt he was a hero.

Tears blurred his vision and he couldn't get the air his lungs desperately needed. It seemed like Ben prime was getting further and further away from him the longer he walked. With a choked off cry he broke out into a full on run and plowed right into Ben prime before he could even side step his watchless counterpart.

Ben prime let out a pained grunt under Ben. Ben straddled the other boy, hands planted on either side of his head. His tears splashed off of Ben Prime's face like rain drops midsummer.

"Hey now, it hasn't been that long has-" Ben cuts him off, with a clumsy kiss, Ben prime's teeth knocking against his busted lip and reopening the wound. One of his hands moved to cradle Ben Prime's face with an unpracticed tenderness. He clung onto Ben prime as if he'd disappear any second he'd be left all along in the middle of his highschool soccer field with a reopened split lip and an aching heart.

He pulled away panting after a minute, tears continuing to escape his clenched tight eyes. His heart sank into his stomach as his actions finally registered within his head. What a weird way to greet someone that was you, only from a different timeline. If that didn't make him want to turn tail and go Alien X to destroy this timeline then he didn't know what would.

He felt a lightly calloused hand touch his face, palm cupping the softness of his cheek. His green eyes reluctantly blinked open to stare down at the boy below him. There wasn't disgust or fear on his face. He simply observed him, looking for something, something Ben wasn't sure of exactly what.

He spoke after a long while.

"...Yeah, me too." and smiled softly at Ben, drawing his head down to plant a softer kiss on him. Time passed and the sun set above them, giving way to the twinkling of stars.


End file.
